creating PDF
V. Vatsal
Is there any freeware tool to create decent PDF in Linux? I seem to
remember that Ghostscript can do this, at least the later versions,
but can't seem to find any information about this.
Thanks in advance.
-- Nike
--
############################################################
V. Vatsal
Department of Mathematics
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6T 1Z2
vat...@math.ubc.ca
http://www.math.ubc.ca/~vatsal
Fax: 604 822 6074
###########################################################
** Sent via the linuxppc-user mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/
Philip Brodd
On Fri, 18 Aug 2000, V. Vatsal wrote:
> Is there any freeware tool to create decent PDF in Linux? I seem to
> remember that Ghostscript can do this, at least the later versions,
> but can't seem to find any information about this.
Look for a program called ps2pdf (you may already have it). It works
decently. The man page for version 5.50 says
The one current great shortcoming of ps2pdf is that except for the
fourteen built-in PDF fonts, it converts all fonts in the PostScript
file to bitmap fonts in the PDF file, and scrambles the character
codes so that the output is not searchable. (Normally it produces
720dpi bitmaps, but you can change this using Ghostscript's -r
option.) We intend to mostly fix this by the end of 1998.
I'm not sure what the current version is, so hopefully this has been
resolved.
-Phil
Martin Costabel
Philip Brodd wrote:
> Look for a program called ps2pdf (you may already have it). It works
> decently. The man page for version 5.50 says
>
> The one current great shortcoming of ps2pdf is that except for the
> fourteen built-in PDF fonts, it converts all fonts in the PostScript
> file to bitmap fonts in the PDF file, and scrambles the character
> codes so that the output is not searchable. (Normally it produces
> 720dpi bitmaps, but you can change this using Ghostscript's -r
> option.) We intend to mostly fix this by the end of 1998.
>
> I'm not sure what the current version is, so hopefully this has been
> resolved.
Seems so. Version 6.0, 3 February 2000 says on this subject:
In some situations, ps2pdf will convert text to high-resolution
bitmapped fonts rather than to embedded outline fonts. Currently,
this
will always occur when the PostScript file uses CID-keyed or
double-byte fonts, or in some cases if it uses fonts with
non-standard
encodings; it may occur in other cases as well.
It also says:
According to users, the greatest benefit of ps2pdf is that it is more
robust than Acrobat Distiller: it will process complex and difficult
PostScript files that Acrobat Distiller is not able to handle.
For certain documents, ps2pdf is much faster than Adobe Distiller,
and
may be suitable for run-time conversions.
--
Martin
Philip Brodd
On Sat, 19 Aug 2000, Stephen Liu wrote:
> Hi Philip,
>
> > Look for a program called ps2pdf (you may already have it). It works
> > decently. The man page for version 5.50 says
>
> Could you please provide me further information where is the website for its
> download. Can it also run on Linux
>
> I tried to find it from RH 6.2 RPM source disc without success.
It turns out that ps2pdf is part of the Ghostscript package, which you
probably already have. Try typing 'ps2pdf' on your command line and see
what happens. If nothing happens, install ghostscript from your CD.
And here's a fun fact: apparently there's a web front end to ps2pdf at
<http://www.ps2pdf.com/>.
Phil
Stephen Liu
Hi Philip,
> Look for a program called ps2pdf (you may already have it). It works
> decently. The man page for version 5.50 says
Could you please provide me further information where is the website for its
download. Can it also run on Linux
I tried to find it from RH 6.2 RPM source disc without success.
Thanks in advance.
Stephen
Stephen Liu
Hi Philip,
Thanks for your advise.
I am sorry. Maybe I got a little bid mix-up. I am looking for a PDF editor
from Opensource.
From the document in /usr/man/man1/ps2pdf.1.gz. It seems to me that it is a
text converter transforming text to pdf format. If I am wrong please
correct me.
Thanks
Stephen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Philip Brodd" <pbr...@cs.uiowa.edu>
To: <linuxp...@lists.linuxppc.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: creating PDF
>
> On Sat, 19 Aug 2000, Stephen Liu wrote:
>
> > Hi Philip,
> >
> > > Look for a program called ps2pdf (you may already have it). It works
> > > decently. The man page for version 5.50 says
> >
> > Could you please provide me further information where is the website for
its
> > download. Can it also run on Linux
> >
> > I tried to find it from RH 6.2 RPM source disc without success.
>
> It turns out that ps2pdf is part of the Ghostscript package, which you
> probably already have. Try typing 'ps2pdf' on your command line and see
> what happens. If nothing happens, install ghostscript from your CD.
>
> And here's a fun fact: apparently there's a web front end to ps2pdf at
> <http://www.ps2pdf.com/>.
>
> Phil
Adrian Simmons
Stephen Liu wrote:
> I am sorry. Maybe I got a little bid mix-up. I am looking for a PDF editor
> from Opensource.
> >From the document in /usr/man/man1/ps2pdf.1.gz. It seems to me that it is a
> text converter transforming text to pdf format. If I am wrong please
> correct me.
Are you trying to create your own PDF's?
Or trying to *edit* an existing PDF? AFAIK this is not really possible
even with commercial software, at best you can only tinker with the
file.
The usual method of making a PDF is:
Step 1: Create your document in whichever application you choose
Step 2: Print to a postscript file (myfile.ps)
Step 3: Convert the postscript file to PDF (myfile.ps -> myfile.pdf)
It is step 3 that ps2pdf carries out (as does Adobe's Acrobat
Distiller).
ps2pdf doesn't convert *text* to PDF per se, but in fact converts
*Postscript* files to PDF.
Works pretty well in my experience!
Hope that clarifies things for you.
Feel free to ask more questions.
Adrian
Brett Humphreys
To create good pdf files, it has been my expeireince as well as philips it
seems that he creates .ps files and then converts them to .pdf files. What
i woudl do is learn a system called latex. It is a document preparation
language. Very very very powerful . Did i mention that it is powerful? :)
there are several good web resources to help you get started with latex.
but it works really well. First with latex you create a .tex file. Then
you process it and create a .dvi file, then youc an create a .ps file from
the dvi file, then finally create the pdf from the ps file. it sounds more
complicated than it really is..
if you need concrete examples i can send them to you.
-brett
On Sat Aug 19, 2000 at 05:18:47PM +0800, Stephen Liu wrote:
>
> Hi Philip,
>
> Thanks for your advise.
>
> I am sorry. Maybe I got a little bid mix-up. I am looking for a PDF editor
> from Opensource.
>
> >From the document in /usr/man/man1/ps2pdf.1.gz. It seems to me that it is a
> text converter transforming text to pdf format. If I am wrong please
> correct me.
>
> Thanks
>
> Stephen
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Philip Brodd" <pbr...@cs.uiowa.edu>
> To: <linuxp...@lists.linuxppc.org>
> Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 12:52 PM
> Subject: Re: creating PDF
>
>
> >
> > On Sat, 19 Aug 2000, Stephen Liu wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Philip,
> > >
> > > > Look for a program called ps2pdf (you may already have it). It works
> > > > decently. The man page for version 5.50 says
> > >
> > > Could you please provide me further information where is the website for
> its
> > > download. Can it also run on Linux
> > >
> > > I tried to find it from RH 6.2 RPM source disc without success.
> >
> > It turns out that ps2pdf is part of the Ghostscript package, which you
> > probably already have. Try typing 'ps2pdf' on your command line and see
> > what happens. If nothing happens, install ghostscript from your CD.
> >
> > And here's a fun fact: apparently there's a web front end to ps2pdf at
> > <http://www.ps2pdf.com/>.
> >
> > Phil
>
>
** Sent via the linuxppc-user mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/
Steve Wall
Most latex distributions also include a 'pdflatex' application which will
convert directly from .tex to .pdf.
Steve W.
P.S. Acrobat Distiller/Exchange has or at least had in version 3.0
a capability to make WYSIWYG changes to text, at least on a small
scale (eg. select and change single words in a block of text). I haven't
tried the 4.0 package.
Brett Humphreys <bhum...@cs.ohiou.edu> wrote:
>
> To create good pdf files, it has been my expeireince as well as philips it
> seems that he creates .ps files and then converts them to .pdf files. What
> i woudl do is learn a system called latex. It is a document preparation
> language. Very very very powerful . Did i mention that it is powerful? :)
>
> there are several good web resources to help you get started with latex.
> but it works really well. First with latex you create a .tex file. Then
> you process it and create a .dvi file, then youc an create a .ps file from
> the dvi file, then finally create the pdf from the ps file. it sounds more
> complicated than it really is..
> if you need concrete examples i can send them to you.
> - -brett
>
> On Sat Aug 19, 2000 at 05:18:47PM +0800, Stephen Liu wrote:
> >
> > Hi Philip,
> >
> > Thanks for your advise.
> >
> > I am sorry. Maybe I got a little bid mix-up. I am looking for a PDF editor
> > from Opensource.
> >
> > >From the document in /usr/man/man1/ps2pdf.1.gz. It seems to me that it is a
> > text converter transforming text to pdf format. If I am wrong please
> > correct me.
> >
Tobias Gogolin
1. isn't there a way to make pdf's also from scaned images ?
say I have a scan of a text document or drawing in any of the typical
formats created by scanners - how do I do it ?
2. Is there a graphical WYSIWYG design environment for tex ?
cheers
Tobias
Ramprasad Rao
Look for the package lyx. See
On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, Tobias Gogolin wrote:
>
> 2. Is there a graphical WYSIWYG design environment for tex ?
>
>
Charles Sebold
>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen Liu <sat...@writeme.com> writes:
>> Or trying to *edit* an existing PDF? AFAIK this is not really
>> possible even with commercial software, at best you can only
>> tinker with the file.
Stephen> Yes.
Stephen> I am interested to create my own PDF's files making use some
Stephen> content in the existing PDF file. Is it possible?
You may want to check:
http://odo.kettering.edu/dvipdfm/
With this, you could not only make excellent PDF's from DVI files
(created by TeX and LaTeX), but you can also include other PDF files
and (if I remember correctly) even do hyperlinks, JavaScript, etc. It
does compile on LinuxPPC "out of the box."
--
Charles Sebold
--
19th of Av, 5760
--
No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after
eating one peanut.
-- Channing Pollock
Stephen Liu
Hi Steve,
> Most latex distributions also include a 'pdflatex' application which will
> convert directly from .tex to .pdf.
Kindly advise the website/websites of 'Latex'
> P.S. Acrobat Distiller/Exchange has or at least had in version 3.0
> a capability to make WYSIWYG changes to text, at least on a small
> scale (eg. select and change single words in a block of text). I haven't
> tried the 4.0 package.
Is there a version for Linux.
Thanks in advance.
Stephen
Stephen Liu
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for your advice.
> Are you trying to create your own PDF's?
>
> Or trying to *edit* an existing PDF? AFAIK this is not really possible
> even with commercial software, at best you can only tinker with the
> file.
Yes.
I am interested to create my own PDF's files making use some content in the
existing PDF file. Is it possible?
Thanks in advance.
Stephen Liu
Hi Brett,
Thanks for your advice.
> there are several good web resources to help you get started with latex.
> but it works really well. First with latex you create a .tex file. Then
> you process it and create a .dvi file, then youc an create a .ps file from
> the dvi file, then finally create the pdf from the ps file. it sounds
more
> complicated than it really is..
> if you need concrete examples i can send them to you.
Although it sounds a little bid complicate, I am interested to learn.
Kindly advise me in more detail or any pointer and send me examples.
Stephen Liu
Hi Charles,
Much appreciated for your advice. I shall have a look.
> Stephen> I am interested to create my own PDF's files making use some
> Stephen> content in the existing PDF file. Is it possible?
This may be OT. How to create automatically "Stephen>" "[Stephen]" or
"Stephen:" in the reply mail.